rear seat belts to front

[Gforcefd]

Does anyone think you could use the rear seat belts on the front seats?

They are basically the same, just mounted alittle different.

Logan

[25Horseplay]

Why?

[Gforcefd]

electric

To get rid of the electric ones, we all know about being able to put in the old regular seat belts that where in the earlier than 91 festiva's, but I was wondering if anyone has used the rear seat belts, in steald of trying to located a festiva with manual belts

[25Horseplay]

That would probably work, in some states it is required to have shoulder restraints in cars manufactured after a certain year though.

[worfdog]

i took the rear retractors out of my junk 1990 festiva,and mounted them in the front of my 1988 about 4 months ago. i hate shoulder harnesses,just a seat belt is not to bad.i just mounted the units in the same place the other was anchored at the bottom rear of the door.

[Safety Guy]

Putting the rear lap/shoulder harnesses in the front would provide newer belts for those who would have used the front lap/shoulder belts out of an '88 or '89.

Plus, the junkyard belts may have been stretched a bit in an accident. I suppose if you limit yourself to only the cars with two nice spiderweb patterns in then windshield and maybe bloodstains all over the front seats then you'd get "unused" belts.

However, seatbelts eventually suffer not only from being used (both daily buckling up wear and tear plus any accidents), they also slowly degrade over time from sun and water and anything else spilled on them.

I have no idea how much they will weaken over time, but when possible one should obtain new belts or the newest belts one can find.

A couple of years ago when the Mutt's driver's side belt retractor went south, I paid over $100 for a new driver's side belt and middle buckles (they came with the left unibelt) from Ford.


So I think it is a good idea to see if the rear 3 point belts from a '90 t0 '93 Festiva would work in the front: being in the rear, they would have seen less use too.

Now here's another idea:

Would the front or rear belts from an Aspire work in the front of a Festiva?

I may try to find this out when I get the time. I don' think the small difference in mass between the two cars would matter. It's mainly a question of whether or not they would fit with minimal modifications.

Karl